Riding the Peak

So I went down to the springs for the single speed sunday ride. I've known about these for awhile just never made it down. The plan for the day was the ride the peak trail. It is a trail network that circles around Pikes Peak. Lots of killer singletrack and one shitty ass, LONG! dirt road climb. Started the day with six strong riders from town.
Up to the first set of singletrack to see the sun come up. We started pedaling around 5 am and ended about 5 pm. It was a solid day of riding. There was quite a bit of hiking to be had today. However, every brutal climb was followed by some killer singletrack.




Getting some water from a spring along the way.


Did I mention we pushed our bikes a bit today?
Water filter break.
View at the top of the final climb.
We ended up with 12 hours of riding, 72 miles with approximately 10,000 feet of climbing. Killer ride in the springs!

Here's a well written little piece from Scott!

Thursday Night Ride

So did a tits night ride the other day, but added a few miles in before the ride started. Parked at Bergan park then rolled through Elk Meadow, pretty much had the hole open space to myself, so nice. then climbed up to Bergen peak. It felt sooo hot on the climb up, but on the way down it felt like nice fall evening.
There's the meadow that I started in.
Then over to Dedisse to meet up with the tits crew. Made pretty good time as I waited for about an hour. Watched this little guy for quite a while. He came over and checked out my feet for a bit then away he went.
Then over to three siters and hit up most of the stuff over that way. Coming down this section, I blew the tire off of the rim. Thought I could squeeze through a tight spot, but all I could squeeze out was the air from my tire. Everyone was flatting on this ride. It's what I get for talking smack to everyone.
Then made my way back through Elk Meadow in the dark. Was able to make it without tuning the light on. Back to the no light rule, Asheville style.
Ended up with just under 50 miles, not a bad ride for a thursday evening. Headed down to the springs for a 70ish mile ride on sunday. A circuit-esque ride around pikes peak with just under 12,000 feet of climbing. It should be fun!

T.I.T.S. Ride

So I finally got back out on one of these rides again. So glad to be back out. The night was absolutely gorgeous. Good crew and good pace. Spike kept me honest and pushed me up all of the climbs. I definitely blame our pace on him, but that shit was fun. The climbs were awesome and the descents were fabulous.

I was worried about black & white since she ran all day at work, but she killed it. There was a beautiful sunset followed by a killer climb in the dark. Got to the top of gas house and watched a spectacular lightning show to the south of us.

Didn't want to drive home, so I rolled down the gravel road until I found an open place to throw down the sleeping bag. It was an absolutely beautiful night to sleep under the stars. Had thought about going for a spin first thing this morning but had no water or food, so just headed back to town.


Finally upgraded the old Civic. She was solid, but it was definitely time for an upgrade. So I picked up this little gti to be the new bicycle hauler. I am stoked for the upgrade.

Sunday Cruise!

The theme of the day was flat tires. I had one and Steve double flatted after following me off of a little drop to a rock-filled dirt road. His words "next time I'm not gonna follow the fixie rider off of any jumps." He had to walk to the store where he bought new tubes and some fat tires.
Just cruised through town on the bike paths then over to Wash Park where I almost caused a crazy crash. Lubes yelled at me from the side, was gonna pull a 180 slide turn when Johnny speed racer was passing me on the left. Pulled it off due to my cat-like reflexes and away I went. No feelings or body parts were hurt.
Troy's sexy little steam roller!

July 4th Front Range Loop

So had planned on doing the Don ride in Salida for the fourth, but kind of flaked on it. This has become a common theme when I plan rides. I prefer flying a little more spontaneously. So I got a posse gathered up to meet at 4:30 on the morning of the 4th for a sweet front range ride. The plan was to get out and back before noon and avoid the crowded trails. Arrived at the trailhead and everyone bailed except Lubes. Riding from Green Mtn at 4:50 up to the top where we caught a sweet sunrise!
Did a loop on GM then up Zorro and across the hogack and over to the red rocks trail. Then down to Morrison for the awesome climb up Mt. Falcon. Finally cleaned that bitch!!! Got to the top and just kind of enjoyed the view. Did a loop around Falcon then over the hill to Lair of the Bear. Hit the pavement and climbed up Grapevine to the top of lookout mountain. From here it was down apex over to Dakota Ridge, down Zorro and around Green Mountain to the car. Left at 4:50 and got back at 11:50 with approximately 55 miles and a few feet of climbing! All in all it was a sweet day on the bicycle!
Got back to the house and had a killer nap, then over to Mark's for a sweet cookout and fireworks display. It was a good day.
Lubes tire grew a big ole booby. Luckily it made it through the ride.
Here's my new car! Not really, but maybe next summer I'll pick something up similar to this, as it is pretty badass!

Indian Creek

B&W, Lubes and myself headed to Indian Creek for some trails that were in the shade. Summer just reared it's head and it's getting HOT! We just wanted to avoid the heat of the day.
The trails were fast and flowy and the forest was super lush. At least 98% was in the shade.

Lubes wondering if the climb was over, and the answer was definitely no.
B&W was stoked to be back on the trail. She rocked it, as always.
3 hours of ride time and back to the house by noon. Another sweet day of riding. Trying for something big this weekend. Have a few options, will have to see what happens. Whatever it is, it promises to be good.